Patrick Kielty Tears Apart Boris Johnson's Plan For A 'Better Brexit'

"Your Brexit lies have opened a Pandora’s box for Northern Ireland.”

Comedian Patrick Kielty has rubbished Boris Johnson’s suggestions for a ‘better Brexit’ in a string of late-night tweets.

The 47-year-old, who was just 16 when his father, Jack, was shot by loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles, told the former foreign secretary that his “Brexit lies have opened a Pandora’s box for Northern Ireland”.

In a thread featuring more than 20 tweets, the TV host explained where Johnson’s plan goes wrong, adding: “You will be remembered not as the Churchillian visionary you delude yourself to be but the ignoramus who triggered the break up of the UK”.

It followed Johnson’s latest Telegraph column titled “My plan for a better Brexit” which set out action points for a country he longs to see after Britain leaves the European Union.

It included drawing up a “SuperCanada” trade deal which would see, among other things, no tariffs and quotas on imports and exports between the UK and the EU.

Such a deal would jeopardise the Good Friday agreement - a vital component of the Northern Irish peace process achieved in the late 1990s - with the introduction of a customs border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Kielty’s thread - which has gone viral with tens of thousands of retweets - is here in full.

Dear @BorisJohnson, There is no better Brexit when it comes to the Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland. As you still seem bamboozled by all this Paddywackery here’s a few pointers for your next stab in the dark - https://t.co/3E0T9MKm28

11. Your Brexit lies have opened a Pandora’s box for Northern Ireland. It's one reason why the majority of people in NI voted to remain in the EU (almost as if they knew more about the fragile equilibrium of their politics than you)

13. When that poll is eventually held the Nationalists who were once content being part of a Northern Ireland within the UK and EU will vote to leave the UK to feel as Irish and European as they did before Brexit.

19. If there’s any justice all this will come to pass when you're Prime Minister so you can finally swim in the constitutional sewage you've created (though we all know you’ll be in Nice with your trotters up)

20. Meantime, if you’re so concerned about keeping Northern Ireland totally aligned with the rest of the UK where’s your support for our same sex marriage and women’s right to choose? Your silence is deafening.

Several Twitter users expressed little hope that the funnyman’s points would be acknowledged.

Mark Fairclough wrote: “Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how well @PatricKielty or anyone else explains the issues/potential upset Brexit will create in NI to @BorisJohnson, it won’t sink in and he’ll continue with his blinkered, ignorant proposals and policies anyway. I just hope he never becomes PM!”

Boris Johnson has previously downplayed the importance of the border, likening it to the point between the London boroughs of Camden and Islington.

The Irish border has been a sticking point in Brexit negotiations, with Theresa May insisting there will not be border controls between Ireland, which will remain in the EU, and Northern Ireland - despite an unclear alternative.